


Bucky vs. Anniversaries

by Rainne



Series: Bucky vs. the 21st Century [11]
Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Gen, more sap than a pine tree
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-02
Updated: 2019-07-02
Packaged: 2020-06-02 18:59:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19447594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rainne/pseuds/Rainne
Summary: Steve and Sam surprise Bucky on a special day





	Bucky vs. Anniversaries

On a certain day in late April, Steve quietly left for home early. He took the train out to Queens, picking up the cheesecake he’d previously ordered, then headed back to Brooklyn. He stopped on the way to the house and picked up an armload of Bucky’s favorite Chinese take-out foods for dinner. He brought these items home, putting the Chinese in the oven to keep warm and putting the cheesecake in the fridge, and then he puttered around the house. He straightened things up, cleaned up the Ever-Growing Shoe Pile, tidied up his painting area, and even refilled the mister Bucky used to water his little succulent. Then, at loose ends, he paced the living room for a few minutes before tossing himself onto the couch and grabbing his book.

Not too long after this, Sam arrived home, also early. He was carrying a decent-sized wrapped box, which he carried into the kitchen and placed in the center of the table. Then he came back out again and seated himself next to Steve on the couch.

Steve immediately put his book aside and leaned into Sam, who wrapped his arms around Steve. “I can’t believe we’ve made it here,” Steve said simply.

“Some days, neither can I,” Sam agreed. “And some days, it seems like we’re _way past_ here.”

Steve laughed softly. He started to say something else, but the scrape of a key in the front door interrupted him.

“Hello, the house,” Bucky called as he walked in. He leaned over and unlaced his boots, dropping them on the floor under the coat rack, and kicked the door shut, entering the living room. “What are you two doing home so early?”

“Waiting on you,” Sam replied. “Hungry?”

“Ain’t I always?” Bucky replied. “Is there food?”

“I stopped on the way home and got Chow Fung,” Steve told him, giving Sam a quick kiss before standing up. “C’mon.” He pulled Sam to his feet and the two of them headed for the kitchen.

Bemused, Bucky followed them, blinking in surprise at the sight of the box on the table. “I know damn well it ain’t my birthday,” he said. “That was last month and you two assholes are still not forgiven.”

Steve laughed. “No, it’s not your birthday,” he agreed. He moved the box aside and pulled the Chinese food out of the oven, carrying it all over to the table and setting out the containers. Sam grabbed them all beers from the fridge, and they sat down, demolishing the food without much conversation.

Once the food was all gone, Steve brought out the cheesecake. Bucky blinked at it as Steve cut him a piece. “Is this chocolate raspberry swirl?” he asked. When Steve nodded, his face turned suspicious. “You’re butterin’ me up pretty hard,” he said. “You two kickin’ me out?”

“No,” Sam said, simple but firm. “Just go with it, hmm?”

Still suspicious, Bucky waited for Steve and Sam to have their own pieces before digging in again. “So, what’s the occasion, then?” he asked. “What’s going on?”

Sam looked over at Steve, who was quiet for a moment before saying “It’s our one year anniversary.”

Bucky blinked, looking back and forth between Steve and Sam. “No, it’s not,” he said. “That was two months ago. You guys went to Cancun for a week. Is everything okay? Did you get hit on the head or something?”

“Not _ours,_ ” Sam said, waving a hand between himself and Steve. “ _Ours._ ” He waved a hand this time to encompass all three of them.

“It’s a year today since you came home,” Steve said, and suddenly he was blinking back tears.

Bucky blinked, feeling suddenly gut-punched. “Oh.” He put down his fork, breathing through the sudden surge of emotion, and then managed to give both Steve and Sam a wobbly grin. “Well shit, you should have told me so I could get something for you, too.”

Sam laughed, shaking his head. “No,” he said. “We talked about it, and we decided today should be about you. You’ve come so far, made so many good strides, and we wanted to celebrate that.” He gestured to the box. “Go ahead and open it.”

Bucky pushed his half-eaten cheesecake aside and grabbed the box, pulling it to him. Standing up so he could reach it better, he pulled back the wrapping paper. Then he lifted the lid. “What the hell?”

He reached into the box and pulled out a ceramic travel coffee mug, laughing softly. “You know what I like,” he said, setting the mug aside. Then he pulled out a small wooden box that held several tiny succulents in equally tiny pots. He beamed. “Hey, I’ve got a real garden now!”

And then, from underneath the box of succulents, he withdrew a framed photograph. It was a picture of the three of them – himself, Sam, and Steve – that he’d posted on Instagram some time back. He remembered the photograph, if not the event; it had been an ordinary sort of day, and Natasha had taken the picture just to be funny. The photo had been retrieved from his Instagram account, blown up to portrait size, and framed.

There were more photos: Bucky with Steve, Bucky with Sam, Bucky with the other Avengers alone or in combination. Some of them were posed shots and selfies, some were more candid shots that others had taken and sent Bucky. All of them had been retrieved from Bucky’s Instagram, and all had been blown up to various larger sizes and framed.

Bucky looked up at them, his eyes full of tears. He opened his mouth to try and speak, closed it again, and cleared his throat. “Thanks,” he finally managed. “It’s… it’s perfect.”

Steve gave him a watery grin. “Sam thought you might like to have all your memories like this, in print, where you can hold them and, you know, look at them all the time without having to hunt them up on your phone.”

“Sam thought,” Sam scoffed, shaking his head. “This was Steve’s idea from start to finish. We thought they’d look good in a collage on your bedroom wall maybe.”

“They’ll look great,” Bucky agreed, nodding. He looked back down at the assorted pictures, then back up at Steve and Sam. “Will you help me put them up?”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to everyone for coming along on this journey with me! Your comments, kudos, and bookmarks give me life and also stroke my ego. :)
> 
> Special thanks to citymusings and secondalto for, as always, being my amazing sounding boards and putting up with my whining.
> 
> Also, no, I will not tell you what happened on Bucky's birthday. ;)


End file.
